High impact polystyrene is commonly called HIPS. HIPS have a glass-like texture in general. It is used for making so many everyday essentials. It has a huge range of industrial utilities. When added with rubber, this material becomes much more durable with more impact resistant.
We will discuss its properties and usability in this article. Let us take a look at its primary usages:
Primary Usages:
This is used in various sectors, such as the automotive industry, food industry, medical industry, and so on.
We can observe a considerable amount of usage of high-impact polystyrene in Consumer products like television, parts of several audio-visual tools, and many other appliances.
With respect to the automotive industry, it has wide usage in instrumental panels or Tanks containing gasoline. As it is a scratch resistant material and it can resist the high impact, automobile manufacturers are using these sheets to make different exterior parts of their vehicles.
Most importantly, its utility in the food industry is matchless because of its strength, excellent hygiene, and the high capacity of heat retention. This material is highly used in the holder of yogurt, cutlery made of plastic, salad bowls, and so on. Additionally, it is used in the medical industry.
Following are some of the features which make high impact polystyrene very much in demand:
- It’s lower in cost compared to other competitive elements and it is also TGA approved. Both the facts play a pivotal role to make it popular. Apart from that, it is transparent like glass, but it is not a fragile in nature. So you can use it to design your displays.
- It is such polystyrene resins that can be used in applications that are lower heat ones; and with its impactful strength, awesome dimensional firmness, it becomes an automatic choice for several manufacturing companies.
- Moreover, since it’s very suitable for thermoforming, you can get this printed with the help of digital, Flexo, and 3D machines. You can give a proper shape to your products according to your needs.
- The natural colour of high impact polystyrene is white and that too alongside a matte finish; this makes it not really a transparent material. Naturally, it can be easily painted or glued without much trouble.
- The other factors which make it unique are its flexibility to be customized easily and recycled as per the need.
Now, let us talk about the thermoforming process of high impact polystyrene. Generally, there are three types: Vacuum-thermoforming, Pressure thermoforming, and twin-sheet thermoforming.
Vacuum thermoforming process is required for plastic materials that are large in size. This process is quick compared to others and involves lesser cost. This process is known for producing liners of refrigerators and hulls of boats.
The pressure thermoforming process is used when there is detailing of work required for the finesse of edges or corners. This process is accomplished using highly pressurized air. Its primary usages can be seen in the production of various automobile parts and electronic elements.
Twin sheet thermoforming involves the most complex method out of the three. It is done by heating two sheets at the same time and eventually fitting and fusing them together. Products such as Gas cans and air ducts are generally produced using this Twin sheet thermoforming process.
Moreover, there is an injection moulding process as well; this is done by melting the high impact polystyrene in liquid form.
Conclusion
With its many features, it has proved to be one of the most common and efficient polymers to use. Also, it serves huge criteria. Therefore, you can use it as per your needs without having a second thought. In short, high impact polystyrene really can be a user-friendly option for you!
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